Instead of a Captain’s meeting, we will organize a WhatsApp-group with all captains. We will provide general information, updates and Q&A through this group.

TOC and EUF

TOC Tournament Director: Max Viaene
TOC members: Max Viaene, Saskia Chambille
EUF Director of Competition: Felix Nemec
TOC Director Spirit of the Game: Saskia Chamibille
TRG Members: Felix Nemec, Andrea Furlan, Saskia Chambille, Max Viaene

Rules and Hand Signals

We ask all players to read and to know the WFDF rules 2021. All players are encouraged to have a Standard WFDF Accreditation of the rules, captains are encouraged to complete the Advanced WFDF Accreditation. All players should remember to use the hand signals.

Anti-Doping

We endorse the WFDF Anti-Doping rules. In fact, our Spirit of the Game prohibits all kinds of doping and is the strongest anti-doping rule.

Volunteers

Spring Invite Leuven is only possible because of the work put in by the TOC and countless volunteers both in front of and behind the scenes. These volunteers are here to allow all of you to have fun playing ultimate.

At no time and for no reason should any member of any team show disrespect towards tournament volunteers. The running of this event is the responsibility of the TOC and the EUF, not of the volunteers. Furthermore, we expect that you recognize the hard work that these volunteers are doing for your benefit. It shows great Spirit that you show them your appreciation by thanking them for a job well done.

Check-in procedure

As part of the check-in procedure a team representative shall report to the opponentat the appropriate field at least 5’ minutes before their game is due to start.

Both captains should then flip discs to determine:

the first possession and field position for their teams.
the jersey colours. There is no home/away rule to determine the jersey colours.
and if needed for the endzone (Mixed division).

Both captains should also decide which game disc the teams will use. If the teams disagree, then a Discraft game disc will be used.

Teams are requested to have a Spirit circle 5 minutes before the game. The whole team must be involved in the pre-game Spirit circle, it is part of the game, it’s mandatory. The aim of this pre-game Spirit circle is to prevent problems during the game through clear and explicit communication of the expectations on the various aspects of Spirit of the Game. If the teams have played each other before, they should address previously experienced issues and state how they will try to avoid these situations.

The scorekeeper will blow the whistle 5 minutes before the game, calling the begin of the Spirit circle. The scorekeeper will blow the whistle 3 minutes after the beginning of the Spirit circle to signal that the game will start in 2 minutes. Game will be delayed if the pre-game Spirit circle doesn't start on time.

Examples of things you can do and topics you can talk about in this pre-game Spirit circle:

Introduce the team captains and Spirit captains so that everybody knows who will step in when discussions take longer than 15 seconds, or who to turn to on the sideline in SotG matters.
Inform the opponent of your position and ideally agree on:

[Rules Knowledge & Use]

How strictly do you apply the rules?
Do you call all violations or only if the rule infraction has an impact on the outcome of the specific situation.
Which kind of violations are a no-go for you and are you going to call consequently?

[Fouls & Body Contact]

Which level of contact is accepted?
Is hand checking tolerated?

[Fair Mindedness]

How do we handle contested calls?
To which level of calls are we used to?
Can we make calls in a consistent manner throughout the game?
Will we call offsides?
Will we enforce time limits?

[Positive Attitude & Self Control]

What is important for us when the opponent makes a call?
Can we handle conflicts?

[Communication]

Do we use hand signals?
Are there players that need a translator when discussing a call?
Do we know how to ask for input (other players/sideline/technology)?
Can we give and receive feedback on our behaviour during the game?

Shake hands with the two opponents at your side in the circle and wish them luck.

Additional pre-game procedures for streamed games

We want to create a great product for the people watching at home. Streaming will start 10 minutes before the game. During this time we can broadcast earlier recorded material and live images.

Before the game please support our commentators by

checking the commentator’s roster of your team.
adding ahead of the tournament useful information about your team to the provided roster.

In order to have also some material at the beginning of the stream

team captains can introduce themselves to the commentator.
anytime when you are ready - make the disc flip in front of the camera and the commentators.
run your final warm up drills where the camera can see you.
build the pre-game Spirit circle where the camera can see you.

Microphone

if you want - answer a few questions of the commentator.

After the game

hold the Spirit circle where the camera can see you.

Please be aware that only people on the roster will be allowed to access the field that is streamed. All others must be in the grandstand.

Exceptions

Games will start on time, unless a previous game has overrun its time on the same field. Teams then have to wait until the previous game is completed. If a game starts late because of another game playing extra time on the scheduled field and another field is unavailable, then both team captains shall note the begin time of the game and adjust all timings so that the game can run for its defined time.

Game time, hard cap, halftime cap procedure

Point cap is 15. Time cap is 70 minutes. When time is over, first finish the current point. If then no team has reached 15 points, 1 point is added to the highest score and this will be the new point limit, hard cap.
Halftime occurs after one team reaches 8 goals. If no team has reached 8 goals after 35 minutes , play continues until completion of the current point. If neither team has reached 8 goals, then 1 point is added to determine the new halftime target, halftime cap.

There is no halftime just switch sides, included in the 70 minutes.

Timeouts

Each team has 1 timeouts per half to be taken at any time. As soon as a player makes the „T“-sign with the disc, the scorekeeper blows the whistle, calls „Time-out (team name)“ and starts the stopwatch.

After 1 min 30 seconds the scorekeeper blows the whistle once and calls „30 seconds left“.

After 1 min 45 seconds the scorekeeper blows the whistle once and calls „15 seconds left“.

At the end of 2 minutes the scorekeeper blows the whistle once and calls „Time-out over“. The offence sets up and stops moving within 15 seconds.

At 2 minutes 15 seconds the scorekeeper blows the whistle once and calls „Start play“. The defense now has 15 seconds to set up after the offence has stopped moving.

Field procedures

There won’t be scorekeepers at the event, except for the livestreaming field. Please be sure to score on your own and make sure that you report the score at the end of the game to the Main tent as well as posting them in the Whatsapp Captain’s group

Restraining lines

All players and the coaching staff should remain behind the 3 meter restraining lines all the time (only layed out on the livestream pitch). Team captains and coaches are both responsible for that. On the streamed fields all players on the sideline must move behind the camera.

Non-playing support staff and supporters should also remain behind the 3 meter restraining lines. Equipment should be far behind those 3 meter restraining lines.

Stoppages

There are 2 cases when the game clock is stopped.

Injury stoppage. An injury that takes longer than 30 seconds. In the case of a severe injury come to the Main tent where we have a mobile Red Cross team.
Spirit of the Game stoppage. If a team captain believes that either or both teams are failing to follow the SotG, he/she may call a Spirit of the Game timeout. Members of the TRG present at a game may also call a Spirit of the Game timeout.

The game clock is then restarted once the disc is checked in and play resumes.

Check-out procedure

Before both teams enter the regular after-game Spirit circle, we encourage teams to first conduct a short circle with only their own team, where all players can discuss which topics should be touched in the Spirit circle. This own circle shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes.

Then both teams gather for the regular after-game Spirit circle, which they end with high fives to salute their opponents. The winning team goes on the inside of the circle.

After the Spirit circle the captains should agree on the score and report it to TOC.

Tournament Formats

Open

3 Pools of 4 and 1 pool of 3

Saturday: Round robin in the pools plus Quarters: 1v2 + 1 Pool of 3 and 1 Pool of 4 for the teams coming 3rd and 4th in the pool. The lower teams take the games from the pool with them.

Sunday: Bracket plus finish lower round robin + Placement games

Spirit of the Game

Spirit of the Game is very important to the TOC and the EUF. We will do everything possible to make this event a high level tournament, while always holding SotG as the highest rule. Team captains are responsible for the behavior of their teams and are asked to remember this during the tournament. We all need to help prevent rude and ruthless behavior or even violent play. Any display of it will not be accepted.

Preserve the Spirit of the Game

Every ultimate player is responsible for the Spirit of the Game. The team captains and the Spirit captains have the duty to guide the team not only as sports coaches, but also in cases of Spirit related issues, such as disagreements, or bad feelings on and off the field. Please be aware that sometimes the team captains need to step in when their team members do not behave within the guidelines of Spirit of the Game.

After every game your team is supposed to gather shortly to discuss and score the Spirit of the Game during that game with the WFDF SotG Scoring System. The objectives of the WFDF SotG Scoring System are:

to educate players on what Spirit of the Game is.
to help teams improve specific parts of their Spirit.
and to celebrate the Spirit of the Game by awarding a prize to the team that gets the highest score.

Scoring Spirit of the Game

Scoring SotG is a team effort. This helps in educating new players and reinforces the fundamentals of Spirit of the Game with the more experienced players. While scoring SotG can take up to 15 minutes the first few times, it will take only a few minutes after teams get used to it.

EUF encourages the teams to do it immediately after a game and it is the Spirit captain’s responsibility. The Spirit captain can then insert the Spirit scores on his own mobile device.

Teams must submit the SotG scores of the whole day latest before 22:00 of that same day. Tournament Direction is instructed not to allow teams to start their first game of the day, when that team is not in regular standing with the Spirit results. They will need an active GO from the SotG Director that all scores have been inserted. Meanwhile the standard penalties for delaying a game will be applied.

Guidelines for Spirit scores

The system was designed in accordance with the expectation that teams generally display normal, good Spirit. Therefore the baseline in each category is “Good” which equals 2 points.

For each game, for each category, determine if the other team was better than, worse than, or the same as just a regular game and score accordingly.

Focus on each question and answer that question only. Do not start with an overall score in mind and work backwards to get that score. Give a real score that reflects the items detailed on the sheet. There might be many times that nothing out of the ordinary occurred at a game. As such, each category should get 2 points.

A final score of 10 points is considered normal, good Spirit.
Do not give a team a higher score because they made funny remarks in the Spirit circle.
Do not give a team a higher score because they did a nice game after the Spirit circle.
Do not give lower Spirit scores out of retaliation or prejudice.

Self-scoring SotG

After discussing your opponent, some self-scoring of Spirit of the Game is highly encouraged. Did everybody in your own team show good Spirit during the game ? The EUF challenges teams to do at least three times during the weekenda self- scoring of SotG.

Electronic Spirit submission

The Spirit score submission is done online via Ultiorganizer.

In the Rostering Tool (eucs-roster.ultimatefederation.eu) you will find the link to fill in your SOTG scores
This link will bring you directly to the Spirit scores of your team
Click on the Game you want to report
Once a SOTG Score is reported you cannot change it -> if an error happened please contact TOC

If you don’t have free roaming at the tournament location or you need assistance, please come to the Tournament Headquarters.

Spirit of the Game stoppage

If one or both team captains have the feeling that the game becomes aggressive or non-spirited, he/she or they then can take a SotG timeout. Right after a call that stopped play or when a goal was scored, the team captain(s) must tell the scorekeeper that a SotG timeout will be taken. The game clock is stopped, because no game time will be taken for this action.

During this special, extra timeout the two captains and the two Spirit captains shall shortly discuss the course of the game and shall decide on actions to be taken during the rest of the game. Coaches also can be part of this discussion. A present TRG member can be asked to join to intermediate.

During this talk both teams stand in one Spirit circle without any conversation. After their talk the captains and the Spirit captains enter that Spirit circle and pass on their decision to their players. Then all players high five each other and play can resume.

Non-spirited games

In case a game involves a significant number of calls, especially when these remain disputed, the game should be brought to the attention of the Tournament Rules Group (TRG). The teams should contact Tournament Headquarters that will take care of sending an official. This person will have the authority to halt the game on the grounds of Spirit problems, first in the form of a Spirit of the Game timeout.

The TRG shall determine whether further action should be taken against teams or individuals.

Circumstances under which the teamsshould call for an outside official include:

repeated incidents of violent, dangerous or ruthless behavior.
repeated incidents of blatant disregard for opponents, spectators, rules or property.
incidents of disregard for the authority of the scorekeepers.

Tournament Rules Group

The Tournament Rules Group (TRG) will arbitrate on-field and off-field disputes between players, staff and members of the public. At Spring Invite the TRG is chaired by the Felix Nemec. The TRG will meet daily to discuss any issues arising during the event, review SotG scores, upcoming games and make plans to communicate with teams on Spirit of the Games issues.

With the increased popularity and visibility of ultimate, it is more important than ever that our sport be presented in a positive way. EUF together with WFDF is working hard to improve the experience of players, staff and volunteers who attend any sanctioned EUF event.

The TRG will address formal requests, complaints or protests about any issue concerning on-field or off-field activities. Requests, complaints or protests may be brought to the attention of TRG by any team captain, Spirit captain or staff member. Requests, complaints or protests may be brought at any time during the period starting from the end of the Captains and Spirit Meeting to midnight on the final day of play at the tournament.

TRG members can and will be present at possibly difficult games during the tournament and might be asked for support in case of disputes.

Disqualification

The EUF applies the WFDF Code of Conduct. The TRG may, at its discretion, disqualify a player or even an entire team from any event or from the entire tournament, whenever that player or team:

exhibits violent, obscene, abusive, disruptive or illegal behavior.
cheats or otherwise attempts to create an unfair advantage for themselves or disadvantages others through circumvention of the rules.
or otherwise causes substantial hardship, inconvenience or annoyance to staff, officials, players or spectators.